Teens get 5 years probation for planning Columbine-style school attack

Three Lapeer County teens were sentenced to probation for making a Columbine-style threat to shoot up Zimmer Middle S...

Posted: Mar. 1, 2018 9:45 PM

Updated: Mar. 1, 2018 9:45 PM

Three Lapeer County teens were sentenced to probation for making a Columbine-style threat to shoot up Zimmer Middle School and Lapeer High School last year.

Dylan DeAngelis, 16, Asa Candela, 16, and Gunner Rice, 15, each will serve five years of probation for their roles in hatching the plot in February 2017.

All were charged with conspiracy to commit murder and terrorism, which carries a possible sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

They pleaded guilty last fall of the following crimes:

-- DeAngelis : false threat of terrorism, use of computer to commit a crime.

-- Candela: false threat of terrorism, two counts of using computer to commit a crime.

-- Rice: two counts of false threat of terrorism, two counts of using computer to commit a crime.

Investigators learned of the plot in early February. They discovered a trove of information planning the attack, including incriminating journal entries from the teens:

-- Jan. 31, 2017, from Rice: "Today is the day we start planning , God I cannot wait to exterminate all the ... animals at this school, we will kill anyone and everyone of our choosing."

-- Feb. 1 , 2017, from DeAngelis: "I want them all dead, those gangsters and cool kids and all the ... people who think they're better than me, bombs fire, guns, they'll all pay for what they've ... done to us."

Terms of their probation include no use of any social media, drugs, alcohol or firearms. They also were placed on GPS tethers and placed on house arrest with no overnights allowed anywhere but home.

All three also are required to continue working toward their high school diplomas with online classes.

They all were sentenced under the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act, which means they will be resentenced as an adult if they violate any terms of their probation.